Originally Posted by
Indie
Someone asked how you can not know that you're being tailgated. Honestly, this happens to me all the time. I'm slower than most of the bigger-wheeled bikes in the bike lane, and a well-tuned bike coming up behind me does not make enough noise for me to hear it. I will frequently discover someone in my peripheral vision before I ever heard him, because he didn't use bell or voice to indicate that he wanted to pass.
Then please get a mirror. You wear a helmet don't you? Good thing, because lack of situational awareness increases the odds that the helmet will have to do what it is designed for...meaning you're gonna have a bad day. There is a reason why I have survived commuting in traffic for over 30 years, virtually unscathed (riding without a helmet and many times listening to music too!)...it's because I make it JOB ONE to pay attention to everything going on around me.
Come on folks, paying attention and planning for Murphy will protect you from harm far better than any helmet, MUP, or bike lane.
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"Let us hope our weapons are never needed --but do not forget what the common people knew when they demanded the Bill of Rights: An armed citizenry is the first defense, the best defense, and the final defense against tyranny. If guns are outlawed, only the government will have guns. Only the police, the secret police, the military, the hired servants of our rulers. Only the government -- and a few outlaws. I intend to be among the outlaws" - Edward Abbey